Defend Our Democracy

Last week was the anniversary of the violent insurrection at the United States capitol by right wing activists attempting to stop the certification of presidential election results. The attack included ransacking congressional offices, theft of official computers, and vandalism including smearing their own feces on walls. Our democracy is so imperiled that Civil War historian David Blight recently wrote "Trump has birthed a dangerous new ‘Lost Cause’ myth" to describe the claims Trump lost the 2020 election due to voter fraud.

Reports is various media outlets say that the House select committee investigating the insurrection received copies of communications turned over by Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows and others suggesting the White House coordinated efforts to stop Biden’s certification. The documents have led House investigators to become interested in whether Trump oversaw a criminal conspiracy. Some of the documents indicate the Trump White House briefed several House Republicans on its plan for then-vice president Mike Pence to abuse his ceremonial role and not certify Biden’s win. Having these documents could give reason for the panel to consider criminal referrals of Trump administration members and possibly Trump as well. The committee’s first step is to determine whether the attempt to stop certification violated federal laws prohibiting obstruction of congressional proceedings.

Regardless of whether or not Trump is ever charged and convicted of an attempt to overthrow the government it’s important that the Freedom to Vote Act that I described last week be passed so that the gerrymandering that allows the Republican party to hold a disproportionate number of congressional seats as compared to the number of votes they earn. Our senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, refuse to support such efforts to restore our democratic institutions. Cruz in a recent interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson even backpedaled on calling the January 6 insurrection at the capitol a “terrorist attack”.

Cruz like most other Republicans holding federal and state office continue to abase themselves to Donald Trump because Trump supporters are so vocal. Around the country some state level Republicans have retired from office because they are unwilling to toe the Trump line and are afraid for themselves and their families due to the threats of violence made by local Trump supporters.

Sen. Cornyn, a former state judge, projects the elder statesman persona but has been instrumental in organizing Republican opposition to all efforts by Democrats to take the necessary steps to hold any officials accountable for organizing or assisting the insurrection as well as the effort to prevent passage of the Freedom to Vote Act or the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. It’s all about gaining and retaining power in service to their wealthy campaign donors, they make no effort to helping anyone else while giving lip service to the middle class even as their policies and actions cause the middle class to shrink as a percentage of the population.

Trump’s authoritarian populism aligns with white nationalist rhetoric while Republican ideology has drifted into neo-fascism. Remember that the characteristics of fascism are: absolute power of the state - such as making all abortions illegal, rule by a dictator – Trump’s claim that “I alone can fix the system”, corporatism – controlling labor by making unions, strikes, and other labor actions illegal, something Reagan started, extreme nationalism – such as the ginned up threats about immigrants especially those from the southern border, and superiority of the nation’s people – Trump’s appeal to white supremacists.

We the people must fight back, call our senators  and demand that they publicly support and vote for the Freedom to Vote Act today.

Texas' Senators Should Be Ashamed

Our two United States senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, shamed themselves last week by voting against even discussing S1, known as the “For the People Act”. The legislation would insure that all states offer early voting for at least 15 consecutive days of early voting for federal elections. The bill also requires that early voting locations be near public transportation, in rural areas and open for at least 10 hours per day. In other words our senators voted against requiring other states to offer similar voting opportunities to what Texas offers.

S1 also requires states to permit voters to register on the day of a federal election, including during early voting, something Texas doesn’t offer but is available in 18 other states plus Washington, D.C. States that allow citizens to register to vote closer to Election Day have higher participation rates. In Texas, at 30 days before election day; we have one of the earliest deadlines in the country, that's the earliest allowed by the National Voter Registration Act.

The “For the People Act” declares the right of citizens to vote in federal elections will not be denied because of a criminal conviction unless a citizen is serving a felony sentence in a correctional facility. The bill requires states and the federal government to notify individuals convicted of state or federal felonies, respectively, of the restoration of their voting rights. Texas offers a variation of this but voting rights aren’t restored until probation etc. is completed. Florida didn’t even offer that until recently when a citizen initiative passed overwhelmingly to restore voting rights then Republicans in the state legislature over-ruled the vote of the people to make it much harder for former convicts to again be able to vote.

S1 requires states to use individual, durable, voter-verified paper ballots and that those ballots are counted by hand or an optical character recognition device. Texas has no standard requirements on recording votes so Guadalupe and Kerr counties purchased machines that comply with this standard but neighboring Comal County spent millions of dollars on machines that don’t use voter-verified paper ballots. Republicans often talk big on election integrity but don’t walk the walk.

S1 prohibits a state from imposing restrictions on an individual’s ability to vote by mail. Texas already restricts vote by mail to voters over 65 and the disabled, in the last legislative session they tried to add a requirement that mail ballot voters provide proof of disability such as a doctor’s note and they’ll probably try again next week when the special session starts as voter suppression is one of the topics Gov. Abbott has called the session to address. 7 states, including heavily Republican Utah, offer all mail voting and people really like it. California also offers it as an option and last year over 85% of presidential election voters there used mail ballots.

S1 ensures equitable and efficient operation of polling places, reducing long lines and wait times for voters. In many areas of the country Republican election officials cause long lines and multi-hour wait times in minority voting precincts by providing too few voting machines while having an abundance in largely white precincts. Cornyn and Cruz voted against addressing this problem.

Our form of government works best when more people participate and feel like their voices are heard. Republicans apparently prefer low voter turnout believing that increases their chances of winning. The shameful behavior of senators Cornyn and Cruz is in line with Republicans across the south and especially here in Texas. They don’t care if government works as long as they retain power.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - June 30, 2021

Justice and Elections

 I had planned to write about the courts this week as a reminder that Texas is among the minority of states in that we elect our judges including at the appellate level. We therefore have both the opportunity and responsibility to determine who will make the final decisions in a wide range of legal cases, setting precedent and providing guidance to lower courts throughout the state. The death last week of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg brings that point home in ways that my words never could. It isn’t enough to just vote for Joe Biden and leave the rest of the ballot untouched. It’s important to vote in every race at every level.

The Court of Criminal Appeals is Texas highest court on criminal matters and has been dysfunctional for a decade. As examples please consider that a justice there once refused to consider a last minute death penalty appeal because the filing was delayed past office hours due to a printer breaking while it was being printed. Worse the same court has been slapped down by the Supreme Court of the United States twice on the same case for failing to do its job of reviewing the law regarding whether an intellectually disabled person should be executed. Judge Elizabeth Davis Frizell, Judge Tina Yoo Clinton, and Judge Brandon Birmingham are running to replace these lazy and apparently incompetent clods. All three are committed and experienced, with strong records of acting in the best interests of their respective communities. They deserve your support on election day.

In early 2016 when Justice Antonin Scalia suddenly died more than eight months before the election and President Obama had the responsibility to nominate a successor; our senator, John Cornyn, repeatedly stated that the next president should choose that nominee because it was an election year. Cornyn is quoted in numerous media sources and his own website saying: “It's not about the personality, it's about the principle ... that it's up to the American people in this next election, no matter who they choose, to make the nomination for this important seat on the Supreme Court.” “My view is that this is not about the potential nominee; it's about who chooses. And I believe strongly this should be a referendum on who chooses in November.” “I believe the American people deserve to have a voice in the selection of the next Supreme Court Justice, and the best way to ensure that happens is to have the Senate consider a nomination made by the next President." Now, when early voting has already begun in some states and election day is less than seven weeks away; he has changed his tune retweeting Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s statement: "President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate."

If John Cornyn has a shred of integrity he’ll rethink that and be guided by his own 2016 statements to allow the winner of the election to choose the next Supreme Court justice. You have the responsibility of reminding him of that by calling his office either in San Antonio at 210-224-7485 or in Washington, D.C. at 202-224-2934. Another way to put the fear of God in him would be to make a donation to his Democratic opponent, MJ Hegar, at https://mjfortexas.com/ .

Published in the Seguin Gazette - September 23, 2020

Cornyn Failing People of Texas

The impeached popular vote loser in the White House and his enablers in the Senate fiddle while Rome burns. The House passed the HEROES Act months ago which would continue the enhanced unemployment benefits that have kept many Americans afloat along with providing funds for cities and states to allow them to continue to pay police, firefighters, health department staff or other critical city and state services while the national economy shrinks due to the pandemic. Frustratingly neither our senator, John Cornyn (R), nor the rest of Senate Republican leadership has shown any interest in taking up that bill. Instead they’ve been unable to even reach agreement on a wide ranging bill of their own. Worse they’ve decided to try slicing up the topics into separate bills because they can’t get agreement amongst their own membership on all the topics.

State and local governments have hemorrhaged 1.5 million jobs due to the huge downturn in sales tax and other revenues. Unemployment has continued to grow and yet John Cornyn’s Republican colleagues claim that continuing the extra $600 a week of unemployment benefits will somehow discourage people from going back to work. While that extra money does offer a few people more than they would normally earn in a week it doesn’t come close to offsetting the extra money they spend on insurance premiums usually paid by their employer. As in anything I’m sure a few people are taking advantage but that happens with anything, whether it’s the grocery with a sale on turkeys, limit 2, or health insurance fraud committed by doctors. That doesn’t even take into account that the reason so many are out of work is that there are so few jobs available. I know several people looking for work every day including weekends who can find nothing they qualify for.

National news often talks about Mitch McConnell as the Senate Majority Leader having the lead role in this travesty by we in Texas should remember that his second in command is our own John Cornyn  and like anyone in such a position he has tremendous influence in the course taken by his superior. Instead of showing any interest in addressing the pandemic or the economic devastation it is causing John Cornyn has marched in lock step with McConnell. Just a couple of weeks ago Cornyn had the gall to suggest that children might not be able to contract COVID-19, a day or two later San Antonio reported more than 200 of cases of infants with it. In the last week alone over one thousand Texans died of COVID-19, Cornyn is out of touch with the people of Texas as much as he is with reality.

Early voting for the November general election starts October 13, that gives us six extra days to vote. If we’re going to turn this ship of state around before it strikes an iceberg and sinks like the Titanic it is imperative that we all get to the polls, wear your mask, and elect people who are in touch with reality and the needs of Texans, a good start would be to replace Sen. Cornyn with former Air Force helicopter pilot M.J. Hegar.

Hegar was on her third tour to Afghanistan, when her helicopter was shot down near Kandahar on a combat search-and-rescue mission. She received shrapnel wounds in her arm and leg from Taliban ground fire, and her helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing. Other U.S. Army helicopters rescued her, her team, and the other soldiers. Hegar received a Purple Heart and the Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor device.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - August 5, 2020

Orwell, Trump, and Black Lives Matter

In a case of Orwellian doublespeak the fascist thug in the White House claimed to be “an ally of peaceful protesters” while tear gas and rubber bullets were fired to disburse crowds near the White House so Trump could walk across the street to stand on the steps of a church he doesn’t attend and flash a bible he is unlikely to have read. Days later he ordered troops to confront and intimidate peaceful protesters on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial further demonstrating that he is the true threat to our republic and our democratic institutions. US Park Police, Arlington Police, DC Metro Police and the Secret Service have all denied using any kind of tear gas on peaceful protesters in Washington, D.C.’s Lafayette Square Monday last week even though numerous canisters were recovered by journalists on the scene.  The kinds of authoritarian actions taken by this president over the last week are what I have feared since he was first elected in November of 2016.

I am not a fan of Sen. Mitt Romney (R) and his brand of vulture capitalism but it’s important to give credit where it is due so I am obliged to point out that he joined a thousand evangelical Christians marching in support of  Black Lives Matter in Washington, D.C. Sunday. Romney told reporters that he was participating in the demonstration "to make sure that people understand that black lives matter."

Former Republican Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday "We have a Constitution. And we have to follow that Constitution. And the President has drifted away from it." Powell joins nearly 500 other former Generals, Admirals, Ambassadors and State Department officials who "are concerned about the use of U.S. military assets to intimidate and break up peaceful protesters in Washington, D.C."

150 demonstrators participated in a peaceful march protesting police violence against black people in Vidor and other east Texas over the weekend. If it can happen in a town like Vidor which has a reputation as a racist stronghold it should be a wakeup call for Sen. John Cornyn (R) and members of the Republican congressional delegation that it’s time for them to get on board the call for racial justice; whether or not they’ll head that call is anyone’s guess.

When asked what he thought of the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police our Guadalupe County Sheriff, Arnold Zwicke, made a fool of himself saying “if people would simply comply with a lawful order, they wouldn’t find themselves in those situations.” If all lives really mattered to Zwicke and his supporters we wouldn’t be seeing protests by Black Lives Matter activists because police wouldn’t be treating our black neighbors with the violence and scorn so often aimed their way.

Admittedly Gov. Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz have made a few remarks directed at their Texas Republican colleagues calling them out for claiming that the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis was staged and similar non-sense but I have yet to see either of them call for actually addressing the underlying reasons for the protests. No calls for accountability, no calls for systemic change in recruiting and training police, just calls to tone down language. That’s the same and saying take a nap and it will all go away. Abbott, Cruz and Cornyn need to do better and if they don’t at least Cornyn and Trump can be replaced come November.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - June 10, 2020

Bolton Bombshell Requires Public Testimony

I’ve previously argued that the American people deserve a thorough and transparent senate trial. Such a trial requires that senators and the public hear testimony from former National Security Advisor John Bolton, Interim Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and others as well as the opportunity to review documents pertaining to the illegal withholding of military aid funds approved by congress. Bolton and Mulvaney among others are first-person witnesses to the words and actions of Donald Trump and therefore have direct knowledge pertinent to the trial. That should have been more than enough reason, but now that the New York Times has reported John Bolton wrote in his proposed book that Trump specifically told him that the funds were being withheld until Ukraine announced an investigation into Joe Biden and his son. Even those who still believe Trump should demand that Bolton publicly testify under oath so that we all have the opportunity to evaluate Bolton’s credibility.

Senator Cornyn voted 11 times on January 21st and 22nd to block first-hand witnesses from testifying and to prevent relevant evidence from being included. Voting against witnesses and evidence is like covering one’s ears and eyes to block out the truth.

Just over 45 years ago Richard Nixon resigned from the presidency when Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott, Senator Barry Goldwater, and House Minority Leader John Jacob Rhodes met with him to inform him of failing support among Republicans in congress. Rhodes told Nixon he faced certain impeachment in the House. Scott and Goldwater told the president that he had 15 votes or less in his favor in the Senate, less than half the 34 needed to avoid removal from office. Those members of congress were no less partisan than those in congress today, but they did respond to pressure from the public.

With the current partisan split in the Senate it’s going to take 4 Republican senators to vote with Democrats in order to allow the public to hear that testimony. It’s going to take public pressure on Republicans to make that happen. There are several Republicans whose names are being bandied about as candidates for those 4 votes including Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine because of their perceived moderate positions or election vulnerability. While John Cornyn of Texas isn’t on the media list and unlike those who have been named he hasn’t made any public statements indicating any possible support for calling witnesses he is up for re-election and Democrats here have already shown the state is competitive which makes him vulnerable to public opinion.

This is much bigger than just President Trump. Preventing witnesses, evidence, and transparency in President Trump’s impeachment trial sets a dangerous precedent and potentially undermines the Constitution for generations. While impeachment might just seem like some abstract exercise, this process could affect Texans for years to come. It might be a Republican ignoring the Constitution this time, but it could just as easily be a Democratic president at some point in the future. 

Republicans and Democrats must put country over party to allow evidence and critical first-hand witnesses as part of the impeachment trial. Only public participation can keep our political process on track and that means you, your family and your neighbors need to take part. All it takes is a simple two minute phone call to Senator Cornyn’s office, (202) 224-2934. Just leave a message with your name, zip code and the fact that you want to hear what John Bolton and Mick Mulvaney have to say in public and while under oath.

Honesty and Transparency Demand Witnesses

I think it’s fair to say that most Americans believe that no one should be above the law and the overwhelming majority of us think justice is best served by a fair trial. It is generally accepted that a fair trial requires the ability of both sides to call witnesses and that evidence be presented such as documents that may be in the hands of the person on trial. That standard we held to in the Senate trial of President Bill Clinton and should apply to the Senate trial of President Donald J. Trump.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, aided and abetted by his second in command our own Senator John Cornyn, has made it clear that he wants to avoid hearing from witnesses and the presentation of documents. Since Trump withheld thousands of documents requested by the House impeachment inquiry team and instructed White House staff to ignore subpoenas the trial in the Senate is last chance the American people will get to find out all the details regarding the administration withholding congressionally approved funds for the defense of Ukraine.

In their efforts to provide cover for Trump, Republicans have claimed that all the witnesses in the impeachment inquiry were second and third hand witnesses. Now that the Senate is about to take up the case all indications so far are that will turn their backs on the opportunity to call first hand witnesses like former National Security Advisor John Bolton and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney among others. Sunday morning on Face the Nation Senator Cornyn was asked directly about this and he just dodged the issue claiming that the House shouldn’t have voted to impeach without all the necessary evidence. Cornyn’s claim relates directly to one of the articles of impeachment, abuse of power, since Trump refused to produce the documents and demanded that administration members not testify. Senator Cornyn’s circular argument shows the blatant dishonesty congressional Republicans have indulged in for months isn’t going to stop anytime soon.

Last week Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts administered an oath to all 100 senators which says in part "that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald John Trump, president of the United States, now pending, I will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws, so help me God." Given that Mitch McConnell stated weeks ago that he is coordinating with Trump on how the Senate will handle the trial it’s hard to imagine him acting impartially when it comes time to vote.

The American people deserve honesty from their elected officials that means a thorough hearing of all the evidence including that which has previously been withheld and the testimony of administration witnesses that have so far refused to testify anything less is a cover-up and we shouldn’t stand for that. It’s going to take our senators to vote for both of them and which means it’s going to take you to demand it of them. Call our senators this week and tell them you expect to hear John Bolton, Mick Mulvaney and others testify in the senate trial. Senator Cornyn’s office number is (202) 224-2934, Senator Cruz’s office number is (202) 224-5922.

Looking Forward In The New Year

This is the time of year when you’ll see a lot of year in review articles but I prefer to look forward so let’s look at some important issues our nation will be addressing very soon and what we can do about them. Next week our members of congress will be back in their Washington, D.C. offices and Donald Trump’s potential trial in the Senate looms large now that the House has voted to impeach him. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has so far withheld the articles of impeachment from the Senate because the Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, who controls the agenda there has suggested that he might not allow witness testimony or demand documents from the Trump administration. The American people deserve a thorough trial based on the facts and that can only happen if witnesses to the actions of the president and his appointees are required to testify publicly. Of course, no trial would be complete without documentary evidence from the White House.

Since one of our senators, John Cornyn, is the second most powerful Republican we, the citizens of Texas, have an opportunity and a duty to try to persuade him to demand that witnesses like former member of the National Security Council John Bolton and Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney be called and documents provided so that the American people are assured of a fair trial. It doesn’t hurt that Cornyn is up for re-election and that Texas has become more competitive since Trump became president so our senator is likely to consider how his behavior is viewed by voters more than he might in other years. You can make your views known to Senator Cornyn by calling his San Antonio office at (210) 224-7485. While you’re at it take another moment to call our other senator, Ted Cruz, with a similar message, his office number is (210) 340-2885.

The next big event this year is the March 3^rd primary election where Democrats and Republicans will have the opportunity to choose their candidates for offices from president down to county commissioner. In Guadalupe County the only state offices with a Democratic primary are for seats on the Fourth Court of Appeal and there are no county offices being contested at all. There are 17 names on the Democratic presidential primary ballot though only 15 are running nationwide campaigns and of those only 8 seem to have any real chance of earning the right to run in the November general election. Those that appear to be competitive are Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Andrew Yang, Amy Klobuchar, Mike Bloomberg, Cory Booker, and Pete Buttigieg. Early voting in Texas starts February 18 so it’s not too early to start investigating who you’ll want to vote for if you haven’t already started or made up your mind.

The Democratic primary for U.S. Senate is also a hotly contested race with 12 candidates and deserves your close attention as well since Beto O’Rourke’s close loss in 2018 shows that Texas is truly a competitive state. There is a very real chance our primary winner could end up as our next U.S. Senator. Of the 12 only 5 appear to have garnered enough financial support to run professional campaigns statewide. M. J. Hegar, Chris Bell, Amanda Edwards, Royce West, and Cristina Tzintzun Ramirez have all visited in Guadalupe County or nearby. It’s time to do your research on them as well.

Tomorrow morning take 5 minutes and call our senators and let them know you expect them to serve our nation over their party, it’s important.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - January 1, 2020

Trump Takes Overtime Away

This week 100,000 Americans lost the right to overtime pay and what’s worse is that they are just the tip of the iceberg. Monday’s Supreme Court decision in the case Encino Motorcars v. Navarro was all about whether or not service advisors at auto dealerships are exempt from overtime provisions in the Fair Labor Standards Act which was originally passed in the 1930’s. The result was disappointing though unsurprising as the Supreme Court had ruled much the same way two years ago when sending the same case back to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals with orders to rethink their prior decision in favor of the service advisors.

The five conservatives on the court claim that “if you ask the average customer who services his car, the primary, and perhaps only, person he is likely to identify is his service advisor.” The four liberals disagree, and I’ve got to say while I’ve never spoken to a mechanic at any dealer where I’ve had my car repaired I know darn well that the service advisor isn’t the one doing the work if for no other reason than they’re sitting in an air conditioned room talking to customers like the receptionist at the doctor’s office. I’ll bet you’re not fooled for a minute either.

While it’s frustrating that anyone loses their right to overtime pay you might think, “well it’s only service advisors at auto dealerships so this is a really limited issue”, but you’d be wrong. You see when Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the decision he made a point of also declaring that prior decisions which were based on narrow interpretations of exemptions to requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act were also wrong. This means that a lot more people stand to lose not only overtime protections but any number of other protections of the law. Experts believe that we’ll be seeing new court cases over employers seeking to cut their employees pay, benefits, and other protections of the law for years to come.

When we elect a president we aren’t just getting that one person or just their ideas and actions, we’re getting a whole list of appointees both in the cabinet and in the courts. When we elect members of Congress we aren’t just getting one person to act on our behalf, we’re getting the entire party they belong to for good or ill. In this case Ted Cruz and John Cornyn are just as responsible for taking away overtime protection from the service advisors and others who will lose those and other benefits in the coming years as Donald Trump. They were active participants in stealing the Supreme Court seat that allowed Trump to appoint Neil Gorsuch when they withheld hearings on President Obama’s nominee claiming that a year was too close to an election to name a new Supreme Court Justice.

The next time a friend or family member tells you they aren’t political so they don’t vote or that it doesn’t matter who is elected, remind them that overtime, family leave, sick pay and any number of other benefits they take for granted can be taken away due to who gets elected. In November Texans have an opportunity to forcibly retire Ted Cruz by electing Beto O’Rourke to the United States Senate. That will go a long way toward stopping further Trump appointees who would stand for corporations and billionaires at the expense of every day working people like you and me.

I wonder how many service advisors are rethinking their vote for Trump now.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - May 6, 2018

Are We Terrorists or Christians?

In 2001 the entire country was up in arms after the attack on 9/11 that killed nearly 3,000 Americans. Thousands of people, rich and poor, teenagers and 30 somethings volunteered to join our military and risk their lives in order to take the battle to the terrorists.

This week the Congressional Budget Office reported that the Senate healthcare bill will cause 22 million Americans to lose their health insurance. We know from studies done after the release of the similar House bill which causes 23 million to lose their insurance that between 10,000 and 30,000 of those folks will then die unnecessarily.

Even taking the low number that’s more than three times as many people dying every year than who died in the 9/11 attack. We went to war over that attack. We spent trillions of dollars to fight that war on the basis of preventing another attack. Yet now, 16 years later, our elected leaders are willing to allow 10,000 mostly poor people to die every year in order to give rich people a tax break. Not only that but thousands more will go bankrupt, losing their homes and everything they’ve ever worked for.

How are we any better than the terrorists if we lie down and take it when the Donald Trump and his Republican enablers in Congress deny children healthcare simply because their parents are too poor to pay for it? How are we better than the terrorists if we accept that grandmothers will be turned out of the nursing homes that provide the medical care they need because their families don’t have the resources to pay for it? How are we any better than the terrorists if we continue to allow sick people to suffer and die to save a few dollars on our taxes?

I frequently hear claims that this is a Christian nation most often by some Republican elected official. If you believe that, how to you reconcile that with denying hardworking people and their families life saving healthcare? I can’t make that connection because the nuns who taught me at St. Lawrence the Martyr and the brothers who taught me at Archbishop Rummel made it very clear that “when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!"

The majority of Americans don’t want what John Cornyn wants to pass of on us. We disagree with Ted Cruz that the bill isn’t tough enough. Most Americans want something better than the Affordable Care Act not something worse. There is a better replacement available that most Americans do support. The replacement is called Medicare for All, or single payer. Medicare could be everyone’s health insurance plan whether a new born or a great-grandmother, sick or healthy, rich or poor. It wouldn’t matter if got cancer after the company you worked for went out of business or moved the factory to China because your health insurance wouldn’t be attached to your employer. You’d never be in the situation where you or your child got sick when you didn’t have insurance.

If America is really a Christian nation shouldn’t we start acting like one?

Republicans Push Confirmations Before Due Diligence

Almost two weeks ago Republicans in Congress voted to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) by taking away both power and independence from the investigative body, and give lawmakers more control over internal inquiries. The mission of the bi-partisan OCE is "to assist the House in upholding high standards of ethical conduct for its Members, officers, and staff and, in so doing, to serve the American people". In the last term it investigated 16 members of Congress, three of them from Texas. The House Republican Conference thought they’d pull the wool over the eyes of the American people by holding the vote late in the day without warning and without discussion.

The vote made headlines the next day and by the time new members of the House had been sworn in and Speaker Ryan called the House to order thousands of Americans both Republican and Democrat had called their representatives to express their disgust and demand that the move be withdrawn. The Republicans heard the people and in a victory for both transparency and democracy relented. This victory belongs to you my fellow citizens.

Now Republicans in the Senate, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, are attempting to sidestep normal procedures on confirming cabinet nominations by holding hearings and votes before the nominees have even filed their financial and employment disclosure forms with the Office of Government Ethics as required by legislation passed in 1978. Review of those documents usually takes a few weeks, not a few days so there should be no hurry to vote on these nominees. That’s not stopping Senate Republicans who are rushing to pass them through, which makes me wonder what they’re hoping to hide from the American people.

Secretary of Education nominee and billionaire, Betsy DeVos is just one of the four nominees who hasn’t filed disclosure forms and she has financial entanglements akin to those of Donald Trump so there is plenty of room for conflicts of interest that the vetting procedures of the Office of Government Ethics are designed to discover and help resolve. DeVos and others whose ethics reviews aren’t complete should not be voted on because we “the people” have the right to expect our government officials will not use public office to line their private pockets.

The success of phone calls by people like you and me in stopping House Republicans from shutting down the watchdogs at the Office of Congressional Ethics should embolden everyone reading this to call Senators Cornyn and Cruz at their San Antonio offices to demand that no votes on Trump’s nominees be held until a thorough review of their ethics disclosures has been performed. You can call Sen. Cornyn at 210-224-7485 and Sen. Cruz at 210-340-2885.

Keep those phone numbers handy as it’s a sure thing we’ll all have many reasons to call them over the next four years.

Published in the Seguin Gazette January 13, 2017

Cornyn Votes for Corporate Welfare

Wednesday, Senator John Cornyn once again voted in favor of welfare for businesses. He voted to continue subsidizing the profits of many of America’s largest and most profitable corporations by filibustering debate on raising the minimum wage.

Full time employees currently paid at or near minimum wage often live in poverty and receive various forms of government assistance such as food stamps, housing assistance and Medicaid. We the tax payer are essentially subsidizing the profits of businesses that employ them.

As President Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said “No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country.”

Dr. David Alameel who is running to be the Democratic nominee for US Senate in November knows what it’s like to live on low wages, he worked in the California strawberry fields as a young man to help his family make ends meet. Later Alameel joined the US Army and used his GI benefits to go to college, eventually becoming a successful dentist. After years of building a multi-location practice he sold his business and became an investor and philanthropist who as worked to improve education for the most vulnerable in the Dallas area.

David Alameel will make a much better senator than the one we have now. Vote for him in the May runoff and again in November for a better Texas and a better America.

Cornyn Failing Texans Again

Senator John Cornyn is letting Texans down. He has failed to submit recommendations for any of the seven federal bench seats currently vacant, some for three years. Wednesday he voted against legislation that would allow women who have suffered harm by not being paid equally for equal work to sue.

Two of the judgeships Sen. Cornyn has failed us on are now classified as judicial emergencies due to the backlog of cases that have collected while he dithers. There are real people here in Texas who are suffering delays in getting justice and as the old saying goes “justice delayed is justice denied”.

John Cornyn has once again shown he isn’t willing to look after the interests of Texas women by voting against their rights to enforce pay equity. He apparently agrees with Rick Perry who calls it nonsense.

We have an opportunity to retire John Cornyn this November by electing Dr. David Alameel. He has served his country in the US Army, he has served his community as a dentist and philanthropist and is now willing to serve his state and the nation in the US Senate. I urge your support for Dr. Alameel.

Letter to the editor - It takes one to know one

Monday Senator John Cornyn sent out an email with the headline: President's Appointments are “Intemperate, Arrogant, and Irresponsible” in which he chastises President Obama for making recess appointments that don’t comply with his precious traditions.

What’s intemperate is John Cornyn and the other Republican senators holding up debate and voting on judicial and agency director nominations rather allowing the Senate to do its constitutionally required job of reviewing them.

What’s irresponsible is John Cornyn and the other Republican senators delaying justice for many because the open court seats prevent cases from being heard and decided in a timely manner.

What’s arrogant is John Cornyn and the other Republican senators deciding without debate that those nominees should not hold the offices for which they have been nominated.

Senator Cornyn, all I can say is Pot meet Kettle.

Bi-partishanship that's just nuts

In one of the most disgusting displays of bi-partisanship I’ve ever seen both Congressman Henry Cuellar and Senator John Cornyn are advocating for a balanced budget amendment. Both these highly educated gentlemen are lawyers and experienced legislators but obviously not economists.

Enshrining a balanced budget in our constitution would shackle our nation in times of disaster or war by preventing the federal government from spending on emergency needs without either immediately cutting spending elsewhere by the same amount thus cutting government services and putting government employees out of work or raising taxes precipitously to immediately offset that spending rather then spreading the payments out over time.

According to a blistering analysis of a Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) by Macroeconomic Advisers, one of the nation’s preeminent private and non-partisan economic forecasting firms, if a constitutional balanced budget amendment had already been ratified and were now being enforced for fiscal year 2012, “the effect on the economy would be catastrophic,” Macroeconomic Advisers also concludes that under a balanced budget amendment, “recessions would be deeper and longer,” and uncertainty would be cast over the economy that could slow economic growth even in normal economic times.

In short Congressman Cuellar and Senator Cornyn should bone up on their economics before bring up this silly amendment ever again.

What do Obama is a closet muslim, terrorist babies, social security broken and a mosque in Manhattan have in common?

Last Friday, a Republican National Committee woman, Kim Lehman, said about President Obama “… he personally told the muslims that he IS a muslim, read his lips."

Senator John Cornyn recently said the mosque issue would haunt Obama come November. Cornyn says "This is not about freedom of religion."

Texas legislator Debbie Riddle claimed in a CNN interview that there is a nefarious international conspiracy by immigrants to cross the border illegally, while pregnant, to give birth without insurance, to then cross the border back again, so that 21 years later they can send their child back again to do us harm.

Congressman Lamar Smith calls for privatization of Social Security claiming that it is broken even though the bi-partisan Congressional Budget Office says that Social Security has a surplus of $2.5 Trillion that is estimated to grow to $3.8 Trillion in 2020.

What do all these “issues” have in common? They are pure and simple attempts to divert the public’s attention from the reality that the Republican Party has no solutions to the real problems of America especially the lack of job creation. They don’t have any new ideas and the old ones like tax breaks for millionaires have proven not to work during both the Reagan and Bush administrations. While some claim Texas has suffered less than other states that’s only partially true since we have a higher percentage of low and minimum wages jobs than just about anywhere else in the country. Remember that in November.

Cornyn votes to protect roaches by keeping the lights off

Senator Cornyn proudly proclaims that he voted to allow businesses with significant foreign shareholders to continue to spend unlimited amounts of money to affect elections in the United States, but is that the act of a patriot? He’s also proud that he voted to allow businesses with government contracts to continue to spend unlimited funds to influence elections. Cornyn claims to be protecting small donors but the only ones required to file new reports are donating over $10,000. Now I don’t know about you but to me $10,000 is serious money to just drop on a campaign ad. I doubt that any of us are ever likely to make such a donation, so who is he really protecting?

The Supreme Court has specifically said, “transparency enables the electorate to make informed decisions and give proper weight to different speakers and messages.” We’ve all heard the old axiom that “sunlight makes the best disinfectant”. Polls show that 80% of all Americans and 76% of Republicans want disclosure of who is paying for campaign ads yet John Cornyn voted to let them remain hidden. Tell Senator Cornyn he was wrong to vote against the DISCLOSE Act, call him at 202-224-2934.